


The Herpetologist and the barista

by Pearlislove



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Coffee Shops, Dorks in Love, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 12:19:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10020545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearlislove/pseuds/Pearlislove
Summary: The Barista at the cafe the Doctor chose had been absolutely gorgeous. She had brown hair and brown eyes and soft skin and just looking at her Vastra could feel herself heating up from within. It was the sort of shy beauty that appeared to be lost to most people, but she would notice right away. If she’d been inclined to believe in such things, she might even had gone so far as to say that it’d been love at first sight.OrHow Vastra fell in love with Jenny the barista





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [YOLO1882](https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOLO1882/gifts).



> A gift for my beloved friend YOLO1882, the gayest lesbian trash there is, and also the Jenny/Vastra god. I bow before you and hope you will accept my gracious gift.
> 
> Notes:
> 
> \- Coffee shop AU, veryone is human  
> \- Missy's father is The Master

“JENNY! Get out here now!”

 

Hearing her coworkers annoyed tone, Jenny quickly drowned the last of her coffee, sighing as she tossed the mug in the trash and returned out into the cafe, where Missy was waiting for her impatiently.

 

“I’m taking my break now. Watch the counter.” Missy ordered, handing Jenny her apron and disappearing out of sight before the brown haired girl could protest. 

 

Almost the same moment Missy disappeared, the doorbell jingled, and in came one of the shops most frequent customer. The Doctor was a professor in mathematics who worked at the nearby University and would come by the coffee shop at least once a week. Seeing him, Jenny couldn’t help but sigh, suddenly understanding why Missy had been so quick to get away.

 

It wasn’t that Jenny disliked The Doctor, he was a decent enough man, if a bit grumpy, but it made life a bit harder for Jenny whenever he came around, seeing as her coworker had some kind of personal vendetta like scheme going again The Doctor because of a family feud. 

 

The feud between The Doctor and Missy’s family was one of the worst Jenny had ever heard of in real life. After what she had been told, it had no apparent start or end and had on multiple occasions ended in police interference and even temporary incarceration of Missy’s father. Because of this, all of which was blamed upon the doctor, Missy took every opportunity to harass The Doctor, and had eventually been banned from serving him at the shop for the very same reason. 

 

The threats were clear, and lest Jenny wanted to see both Missy and possibly herself fired, she had to cover the counter during The Doctor’s visits to the coffee shop.

 

Seeing that they were out of blueberry pie, Jenny unwrapped a new pie and put it in place, observing the new guests chatting among themselves at the other side of the display case as she did.

 

The Doctor would always come in to the coffee shop for coffee and pastries on Tuesday afternoons. Normally, he’d be alone, sitting by himself and stewing in a corner, but as she soon noticed he seemed to have brought someone along with him this time.

 

Purposely spilling some blueberry mush from the pie wrapping on the counter, Jenny used cleaning it up as an excuse to observe the second guest. Jenny had never seen her in the shop before. The unknown woman was tall and definitely feminine in a plum coloured skirt and black hoodie, a pair of black gloves on her hands and the hood of the jacket pulled down over her head and mostly shielding her face from view. It was early in August, and quite warm,  so Jenny found a bit out of sorts for the woman to be so covered and even going as far as to wear gloves, but she shrugged. The Doctor was an eccentric sort of man, and it was not unexpected that his friends were, too.  Though it was hard to determine her age, Jenny would guess she was quite some younger than The Doctor, maybe around Jenny’s own age.

 

“Please, can't you just order for me, John?” Jenny heard the woman say, her voice smooth and silky as she pleaded with the man. As she waited for his response, one of the glove clad hands reached into the hood, pulling out a few long strands of green hair and playing with them nervously.

 

“I think you can order  _ coffee _ , Vastra. Jenny is not that scary.”  The Doctor comments to the woman, Vastra, in his thick, Scottish accent. Despite his statement Jenny can feel him glaring at her out of the corner of his eyes, and she quickly moves over to the Espresso machine at the other end of the counter instead. She’s a nosy person, she admits, but she’s not rude and therefor she makes sure people doesn’t catch her observing them or listening in on their conversations. 

 

Though she can’t hear them from the other end of the counter, Jenny keep an eye on the duo, and after some more chatting among themselves, the mysterious woman leaves in the direction of the bathroom while the Doctor head for Jenny to file their order.

 

“The usual, boy?” Jenny ask happily, The Doctor grunting in agreeance. She didn’t quite know why she called him ‘boy’ - he was at least fifty - but she’d been doing it for so long it felt natural by now.

 

“Yes. Did Missy finally get fired?” John looks around, showing one of his rare smiles as he did not spot his nemesis anywhere nearby. There was a slightly twisted sort of amusement playing in his eyes, and Jenny wondered if he’d really be that happy if Missy got fired.

 

She smiled apologetically as she prepared the black coffee he always ordered. “No, sorry. She’s just been forbidden to serve you by the owner of the shop. Clara’s a bit tired of hearing about her attacking customers every time you come in here.” 

 

“Not like it’s my fault. Her dad’s a psychotic ass and she takes after him. She should be lucky I’m yet to get a restraining order on her too.” He argues, and Jenny just nods, because it’s the same thing he says every time someone asks about the feud between him and Missy.

 

“Alright then. But who was the woman that came to the shop with you?” Jenny can't help but asking about the woman as she give him his coffee. She hasn't seen her since she separated from The Doctor, and is mildly surprised he actually didn’t order anything for her.

 

“Her name’s Vastra. Used to tutor her when she was small, now we're just friends.” He shrugs, apparently none too interested, though Jenny'd suspect it's just the way he is, and heads off to his normal table.

 

Jenny looks as he leaves, feeling a little intrigued. She never knew The Doctor tutored. 

 

\---

 

Vastra is beginning to panic. Despite not being a very socially adept person, she’d somehow ended up inviting the doctor to coffee somewhere of his liking, for old times sake. Sentimental as the old bastard was, he’d accepted, and before any of the had the time to regret their decision, they’d been off.

 

Everything had worked out fine to begin with. She and the Doctor had not started fighting over one issue or the other on their way there, and she had managed to keep herself from scratching at her face, not wanting to get the always slightly wary look that the Doctor gave her when he was reminded of her condition.

 

She really didn't appreciate looking as though she was having a permanent allergic reaction  more than the person looking at her, but most creams could only get her a temporary improvement at best, and there, she supposed, was where the trouble had started.

 

The Barista at the cafe the Doctor chose had been absolutely  _ gorgeous _ . She had brown hair and brown eyes and soft skin and just looking at her Vastra could feel herself heating up from within. It was the sort of shy beauty that appeared to be lost to most people, but she would notice right away. If she’d been inclined to believe in such things, she might even had gone so far as to say that it’d been love at first sight.

 

Before she knew what she was doing, she was begging The Doctor to order for her, not wanting to suffer the embarrassment of scarring the beautiful girl with the horror of her own looks. The Doctor, however, had flat out refused, stubborn as he was claiming that the barista- Jenny he called her, such a beautiful name - was not dangerous and that Vastra could do it herself.

 

Vastra obviously couldn't, as she was sitting in a public bathroom and trying to figure out how to order coffee without her face being seen. Reaching into her pocket; she pulled out some sticky notes and a pen, thinking maybe it could work. Hopefully.

 

Quickly scribbling down what she wanted, she stood up and headed out of the restroom with as much courage as she could muster.

 

\----

 

It had been twenty minutes, and Jenny was starting become quite worried, because ‘Vastra’ had yet to join the Doctor at his table. Jenny is almost about to go talk to him about it, when she suddenly sees a sticky note appearing on the counter.

 

Confused, Jenny picks it up and reads it. The handwriting is a bit loopy, and the green colour of the inky is hard to discern against the yellow paper, but Jenny almost thought it looked like an order.  _ A chai tea and a slice of blueberry pie _ . Why would there suddenly be notes with orders on them on the counter? There was no one there to be making the order.

 

Shrugging, Jenny went to toss it in the bin, before grabbing a refill for The Doctor’s coffee, continuing with her plan to go over to him and ask him about his companion who had yet to reappear.

 

As she was heading over to The Doctor’s table, however, she was stopped short in her track when a  _ paper airplane _ came soaring through the air, hitting her straight in the face. Not seeing what she was doing, Jenny proceeded in slipping and falling straight to the floor, spilling hot coffee everywhere, including on herself.

 

“FUCK!” She exclaimed, loud enough that Missy was sure to hear her all the way from out in the breakroom, and The Doctor certainly heard her as he sat in his chair about a meter away from her feet. “Who the hell throw paper airplanes in people's faces?!”

 

She doesn’t quite realise she’s said the last part out loud, but obviously she has, and as Missy coming running from the kitchen to see what’s happening, Jenny suddenly sees Vastra appearing behind her, fleeing the cafe.

 

“Wait!” She’s on her feet in a minute, beating The Doctor to it as she head for the door, soaring past Missy in the hopes of catching the other woman before she was too long gone.

 

“Jenny!” Missy is calling her name behind her, but she ignore it, knowing too well that she was putting her job - which she needed to pay for herself - in danger by leaving Missy and the Doctor alone to go chase after a random woman who, she had by now realised, hit her in the face with a paper airplane, but couldn't find it in her to stop either. 

 

Something in that woman, so mysterious with her covered face and long going friendship with The Doctor, was dragging Jenny in, pulling her towards the girl like a magnet. 

 

Luckily for Jenny, Vastra hasn't actually tried to run very far. She’s sitting on the curb just a few meters down the road, curled in on herself like a little child. Her hood has fallen back, Jenny notice, and long green hair is falling down her shoulders to her waist.

 

Hiding behidn the green hair Jenny can still not see her face, but she can sense her sadness, her anger with herself, and it breaks Jenny’s heart to see someone like that.

 

Why had she gone out of her way to hide her face like that? Jenny needed to know. She needed to unravel the mystery that was this girl who she hadn’t even properly met yet and still let capture her so completely. 

 

“Vastra!” Jenny walks right up to her, calling out her name and gasping in surprise as she looked up at her.

 

Vastra, as it turned out, was so  _ beautiful _ that it stunned Jenny into complete silence. She had pouty pink lips, and big, shy eyes in the most mesmerizing shade of blue. They were deep as oceans, dragging her further and further into their depth the longer she looked at them the shade of them also adding an absolutely perfect contrast to Vastra’s green colored hair.

 

At first glance, that's all Jenny notice. The beauty of her hair and eyes and lips and the unexplainable attraction she feels towards them, wondering if this is what people call love at first sight. 

 

At second sight, when Vastra is trying to turn her head away, mumbling a half-heard  _ You’re the barista from the shop  _ without it even being a question, she sees the marks on her skin. Big, pink rash blooming over her cheeks and neck and forehead, obtrusive, irritated pinkish red colour quite noticeable once she looks away from the eyes  and the other small details that were her original focus. 

 

She wonders, suddenly, if that's why the woman had been so intent on hiding her face behind her hood, and hadn’t wanted Jenny to see her face. Because she was embarrassed.

 

\----

 

Vastra sits there on the curb, dead silent. Jenny, the barista, has been sitting behind her for a while now, equally silent and inspecting her. Vastra want to shy away, want to pull her hood back up to hide from this gorgeous woman observing her hideous face.

 

But she doesn't, because she doesn't want to disturb the woman - Jenny - and the peace that seemed to overtake her as she studied Vastra’s face.

 

“You’re the barista from the shop.” She mumbles, but Jenny doesn’t seem to hear, just looks her over again with apparent interest. it makes Vastra uncomfortable, because she knows she’s hideous to look at, especially in comparison to someone like this Jenny, but she pushes back the instinct to put the hood back on once more. 

 

“You’re a friend of The Doctor, hmmm? What do you think of him?” Instead of leaving, or running away, she sits down on the curb next to her, and ask about The Doctor.

 

Vastra is not sure what to answer. She guessed she was a friend of The Doctor’s, though sometimes she felt as though The Doctor  _ didn’t have _ friends, and all she’d ever been was a funny little distraction for him to exercise his extensive mind on. “I suppose so, or as close to being a friend as you get with The Doctor. When I was little, he tutored me in math and science. Gave me work beyond the curriculum, that I could actually  _ enjoy _ .” She smiles at last. Those days, the days of studying and learning with The Doctor, one of the few who seemed to understand that the extents of her mind went beyond what people expected of such a little girl, was good days that she remembered with fondness. 

 

Jenny giggles, and Vastra is sure she’s never heard a beautiful sound. “You must be real’ smart, then. Barely past the basics, myself, and never got much further than Elementary.” She smile, though the whole thing with education is a bit of a sore spot for her, for she was always the hopeless orphan who no one cared enough to help, but she’s still happy because she’s comfortable with her life as it was and is and will be, and her job, if she still got it when she got back that was. 

 

She wasn’t smart of well paid, but she made it by, and that was all that mattered really.

 

“You don’t have to be smart to be pretty and lovable.” Vastra blurts out, the words leaving her mouth before she can think and she can feel the blush spreading across her cheeks, though they’re hardly visible against her beat red eczemas. Raising her hand to try and scratch one of them, she pondered what had happened.

 

She had really lost it for this woman, who she barely knew nothing of. All she knew that she was beautiful, that she had the best laughter and though she was of the strict opinion that love could not form without a deeper emotional connection between the two persons, she knew she had indeed fallen irrevocably in love with Jenny the barista. Oh how The Doctor would laugh if he heard her thoughts now. One of the things they had always shared, was a bitter and pessimistic view of the world - at least nowadays. Only Jenny made her feel much less pessimistic.

 

“Thank, you’re beautiful, too.” There is such conviction and honesty in what she says, Vastra almost want to believe her, but she can’t. She can’t because there is no way that she could be regarded beautiful when she looked like she did.

 

“Thank you” She said, slowly, smiling a smile that was all but happy. “But I am afraid you are mistaken - beautiful is not an identification applicable to my face, I fear.” She smile, try to be kind and good natured about it, but she feels foolish, because of course she understands that this beautiful woman beside her is simply stringing her along at this point, not actually interested nor caring about her.

 

Yet, she’d been so honest...

 

\----

 

Jenny can tell Vastra doesn’t believe her praise. She can see she feels foolish. She is trying to keep a stoic impression, obviously, but Jenny can read her like a book. It's all in the subtle ways her lips and eyes moved, the twitching of muscles underneath the red rashes. “Really, you are lovely.” As cheesy as it is, she want to make this woman appreciate herself, because she are lovely and for Jenny it's plain as day but the woman obviously doesn't feel the same.

 

“I…” The other woman, Vastra, starts to say something, but quickly stops. Jenny’s guessing she was going for another protest, but decided it was unnecessary. “Thank you. Not many people would find beauty in someone with a skin condition like mine “

 

Jenny giggled. She couldn’t help it, she’d thought of the best reply there was. “Well, I’ve been serving coffee to The Doctor for the past year and a half so I think I’ve learned to look past the surface!”

 

At this, Vastra laughed a little too loudly, though Jenny could tell the humour was honest. “He was a little younger in my days, when i first got to know him, and a little bit less of a grump. Kept offering me Jelly babies, as if it’d make me study harder!” She smiled with fondness, remembering the brown haired scottish man she’d first learnt to know. “He’s almost an entirely different man today.” Jenny nodded, understanding.

 

“People change over time.” Jenny said, lamenting the sad undertone their conversation suddenly had gained, and wishing it’d go away. She didn’t like being sad, it was utterly impractical and didn't make nothing better.

 

“Some people doesn’t have to change. They’re perfect as they are.” Vastra looks at her, and Jenny can swear that those blue eyes are staring straight into her soul, her heart, seeing everything that no one else was ever supposed to know. Gathering her secrets and tucking them away in her own heart so Jenny’d be forced to stay by her side forever.

 

Tentatively, she smiled and blinked. “I could say the same.” Jenny couldn’t believe her own audacity. She was flirting, really flirting, with this woman who’d she met the very same day and didn't even know if she was interested in her that way.

 

Didn’t stop her from wanting the other woman, though, because by now she’s convinced it's meant to be.

\---

 

“I could say the same.” Tentatively, Jenny smile and blink, and Vastra simply can't help but smile, too.

 

By now she’s resigned to believe that love at first sight must be real because she is so deep down in the soul of this beautiful woman beside her and she knows, she knows the only time she felt like this she was in love. She wanted this woman, wanted to date her and make her hers and enjoy her presence in her life, but did not quite know how to make it happen.

 

Vastra wasn’t the type to flirt with strangers, or date at all, for that part 

 

“You are, you know, quite lovely. Your hair and your eyes and...I like it. Quite some.” She stumble, try to be a little less subtle about her interest in the other woman. It's clumsy, but it's something, and Jenny laugh, loud and clear.

 

“I like your eyes too Loveliest shade of blue I’d ever seen. Your hair as well, with that green colour. What is it, a lime?” She stretched out her hand, seemingly not noticing that she’s entering Vastra’s personal space as she grab ahold of a few wayward strands of hair, tucking them behind Vastra’s ear.

 

“I was going for a lizard kind of green, fitting for my work, but I guess a lime will do.” She laughed nervously, not sure if it was a proper response, but none the less  tucking a few strands of hair behind Jenny’s ear, too, attempting to return the affectionate action.  

 

“What do you work with?” Jenny asks curiously, leaning in a little, and to her own surprise she holds perfectly still when with everyone else she would have leaned away.

 

She wasn’t that keen on physical contact, and certainly was no good at interpreting body language, but around Jenny it seemed as though neither she nor her subconscious cared. 

 

“I’m a Herpetologist. It's like a zoologist, but for lizards and amphibians. I may also do some work on the side for Scotland Yard.” She smirk at this, watching Jenny’s face lit up in amazement. It sounded quite impressive, she guessed, if you spent all of your days making coffee for others. Not that Vastra judged Jenny for her occupation. She was too lovely for that.

 

“Scotland Yard? Seriously?!” Seemingly completely overtaken with shock, Jenny gawked at her, open mouthed and big eyed.

 

Vastra nodded, smiling. “The Doctor hooked me up with some work there. Quite helpful, seeing as Herpetologists aren't really in that hot demand. I’m yet to get any constant work in that area.” She smiles again, equally smug. She’d been quite shocked as well, when The Doctor asked if she’d be willing to work for Scotland Yard. Apparently they’d caught up on the fact that The Doctor had been her former tutor, and knowing that The Doctor, no matter how smart, would never want to work for them, they hunted her down instead.

 

“That is so impressive, though! I mean, Scotland Yard, most people wouldn’t even dream of it!” Jenny commented, moving even closer into Vastra’s space, practically pressing herself against her side. Vastra was sure that if she turned her head, their noses would be brushing. As it was, she could even smell the woman beside her, a flattering smell of fresh coffee and sweet perfume and it smelled so amazing Vastra couldn’t help but imagine what kissing her would be like. Subconsciously, she try to lean in just a bit more, taking in a bigger waft of Jenny’s sent.

 

“Vastra?” Jenny whisper, her name for the first time rolling off her tongue as sweet as everything else she said, and her eyes glitter when she turn towards her, their noses indeed brushing as she leaned in further than Vastra thought possible.

 

“I’m sorry I just...I’m sorry you just smelled so lovely and I….sorry I didn't mean to..sorry!” Vastra blushed furiously,  trying to keep it cool but failing as she suddenly realised  having someone more or less sniffing their neck to try and catch their scent really wasn't the most normal thing, and she may have put her off because of it.

 

Before Vastra kan say another word, though, Jenny interrupts her, putting a finger to her lips and giving her a cocky smile. “You don’t have to be sorry, miss.” She tells her convincingly, smirking still as she lean forward even more. Now, their lips are so close that Vastra can feel Jenny’s breath mingling with her own, and before she knows it Jenny is kissing her, lips brushing against lips as she pressed her body against Vastras, arms wrapping around her in a loving embrace that Vastra soon recuperate, kissing right back with all the force of a love that couldn’t possibly be but yet still where.

 

\---

 

As soon as Jenny feels Vastra kissing back, she closes her eyes, letting her mind drift of into space as she enjoys the feelings of the other woman’s slightly dry lips pressing against her, recuperating the sudden love that seemed to have struck them both like a lightning bolt from the sky. 

 

After the first kiss end, they pull apart, arms still wrapped around each other, and Jenny half sitting in the other woman’s lap. Though she knows she should not be doing all this, that it shouldn't feel so natural to sit in the lap of woman who she just met and - evidently - knew very little of, it does, and she doesn’t hesitate as she throw herself into another passionate make out session, lips catching each other and eyes fluttering closed out of pure pleasure once more as they engage with one another.

 

They get so caught up with one another, that in the end not one of them notice the fire truck when it comes driving up the street, or Clara screaming over what Missy and The Doctor had done to her cafe, and when Jenny gets the news that she’s fired the next day, she could hardly care less.


End file.
